The government on Friday said the mobile phone subscription in India may exceed fixed line connections by the end of 2004 with cellular and WLL combined comprising over 45 per cent of the total subscribers.
Releasing the latest figures of performance of the telecom sector during the first two months of the current fiscal, government said 28.74 lakh (2.87 million) new connections were added compared to 25.95 lakh (2.59 million) in the same period last year, registering a growth of 39 per cent.
The number of mobile phones, including WLL (M), as in May 2004 stood at over 363 lakh (36.3 million) and their share in the total number of 794.14 lakh (79.41 million) phones was more than 45 per cent, an official statement said.
The private sector has contributed more than 90 per cent of the additional phones provided in April-May 2004. Its share in the total number of phones has increased to 41 per cent.
The number of village public telephony as on March 31, 2004 stood at 522,515, while the number of rural direct exchange lines was at 123.33 lakh (12.33 million).
Tele-density during the period increased to 7.29 per cent from 7.02 per cent as on March 31, 2004.